The Dallas Cowboys are unraveling on both sides of the ball, and Brian Schottenheimer knows it. Three weeks into his first season as an NFL head coach, the defense he entrusted to Matt Eberflus has turned into a liability, surrendering 30.7 points per game (27th in the league) and a staggering 397.7 yards per game (30th in the NFL). And the criticism aimed at Eberflus is only growing louder.

After a full training camp and three regular-season games, the unit still looks lost. Chicago’s 31-14 win over Dallas in Week 3 was brutal. And the bad news didn’t stop at the final whistle. On Monday, the Cowboys confirmed that CeeDee Lamb and right guard Tyler Booker might miss several weeks with high ankle sprains, stripping the O-line of its key pieces.

Staring down at the mounting concerns, the HC has shared a plan to move forward with. A tweet on X revealed, “Because if there is at times a lapse in communication, then how do you foster that? Well, you foster it by having the guys all in a room together. And that’s nothing revolutionary, it doesn’t automatically solve the problem, it still has to carry over to the field but again, the standard is not the standard, and therefore we will make changes, and some will be schemes, some might even be personnel, we’ll see.””

That carryover has been the most alarming part for Dallas. Take week 2’s game against the Giants. New York quarterback Russell Wilson threw for just 168 yards and no touchdowns in Week 1 and 160 yards with no scores in Week 3. But against Dallas? He exploded for 450 yards and three touchdowns. On Sunday, Bears’ QB Caleb Williams followed that same script—298 yards, four touchdowns, and for the first time in his 20 career games, he wasn’t even sacked.

And changes have to come fast. The defensive line isn’t generating pressure, and the secondary is blowing assignments that leave NFL receivers wide open. Matt Eberflus’ zone-heavy scheme hasn’t clicked with the roster, and execution problems are multiplying. That’s why Schottenheimer’s promise of tweaks—whether in personnel or scheme—needs to land in the next week against the Packers. “But we expect to play better against a really good opponent coming in here Sunday night.” 

The Cowboys’ once-feared turnover machine has just one takeaway through three games and a league-worst minus-5 turnover margin. Compare that to when they led the NFL in takeaways in 2021 (+14) and ranked second in 2022 (+10). Dak Prescott, George Pickens, and a surprisingly effective run game can keep things afloat, but unless the defense wakes up, the Cowboys will keep drowning.

Dak Prescott calls out the offensive meltdown

Even Dak Prescott wasn’t willing to sugarcoat Week 3. “Scoring 14 points is never going to be OK. Dang, sure not with this offense, this unit, the team, the players that we have. Not acceptable. Not to our standard. Not anywhere what we believe in and we’re capable of doing.”

The quarterback wasn’t exaggerating. The Cowboys actually moved the ball. Prescott went 31-of-40 for 251 yards and a touchdown. Dallas finished with 292 through the air, 121 on the ground, and cracked 400 total yards—numbers that usually translate to a 30-point outing. Instead? Just 14. Fourteen. What went wrong was the turnovers. Prescott threw two picks in the fourth quarter, Joe Milton III added another, and the team even coughed up a fumble. Every time momentum flickered, Dallas snuffed it out themselves.

And then came the red-zone nightmare. In the 20s, Dallas looked polished, even dangerous. But once the field shrank, everything crumbled—field goals, giveaways, or flat-out wasted drives. The cruel part? Tight end Jake Ferguson vacuumed up 13 receptions for 82 yards, while George Pickens found the end zone and added 68 of his own. The pieces are clearly there. The production is clearly there. But unless the Cowboys figure out how to stop gift-wrapping possessions and finally cash those yardage checks into points, Dak’s frustration will only get louder.